Education
Newswire

Progress
and Perspective

Two
years ago, this column was started with a review of the one day
conference Teaching Astronomy at Community and Small Colleges held
during the 108th Annual Meeting of the ASP. Over 60 participants
attended. At the recent 110th Annual Meeting, an international symposium
on Teaching Astronomy to Non-science Majors attracted over 130 participants
for two very full days. There were formal presentations, panel discussions,
and hands-on workshops.

A truly
impressive aspect of the symposium was the cross-section of teachers
present: graduate students; professors with over 30 years experience;
K-12 teachers, some with little to no formal training in astronomy.
As might be expected, a diverse group such as this also displayed
a diversity of ideas about teaching astronomy. Was there agreement
on course goals, course content, methodologies, student profiles,
use of the web? Of course not! And none was expected. It was in
the discussion of these and other topics that participants gained
perspective on what they are doing, should be doing, could be doing.
I never leave one of these (rare) meetings without enormous respect
for the energy, creativity, and dedication of many of these fine
teachers. I know I still have much to learn from my colleagues in
teaching.

A
Picture A Day

"Astronomy
Picture of the Day" was developed by two NASA scientists who recognized
the educational value of NASA's vast photographic archives. Thus,
if you go to http:
//antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html each morning you'll
get a beautiful astronomical image accompanied by a hyperlinked
explanation of the picture written by scientists. There is an archive
of previous dates' pictures and their accompanying explanations.
This site, however, is not meant to give the latest images from
the various NASA missions. For those, you should contact the specific
NASA site.

A
Network Of Astronomy Instructors In Non-Research Colleges

The
ASP is establishing an informal network of instructors who teach
astronomy in colleges where research is not the primary activity
required of faculty. As a first step, the Society is conducting
a short survey of these instructors, to find out more about them
and to establish a way of exchanging information. Instructors who
teach astronomy only part-time are particularly encouraged to join.
Approximately 400 instructors have filled out surveys so far, and
several sessions have been held at national astronomy meetings.
If you would like to join the network without charge or obligation,
you can: (a) print out the survey from ASP's website and fill it
out (URL is http://www.astrosociety.org/education/survey.html);
(b) fax a request for the college instructor survey to (415) 337.5205;
(c) send an email request, including your postal mailing address,
to Andrew Fraknoi at fraknoiandrew {at} fhda.edu; or (d) mail a
request, again including your mailing address, to College Survey,
ASP, 390 Ashton Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94112. Please pass this
information on to colleagues who may not see it otherwise.

Radio
Science In The Classroom

At
the next URSI/USNC meeting, to be held 4-7 January 1999 in Boulder,
CO, the Radio Astronomy Commission is sponsoring a session on "Radio
Science in the Classroom." This afternoon session will occur on
Tuesday, 5 January. Needed are people who have experience in hands-on
instructional labs. There are several categories of such labs, running
the gamut from standard university lab courses to summer schools
for high school teachers. The sharing of techniques, course content,
hardware arrangements, and teaching experiences will help one's
efforts by learning about what others are doing, providing positive
feedback, and fostering connections among colleagues who otherwise
might be operating independently.

Verbal
talks are being solicited for this session. Each talk will be 15
minutes with 5 additional minutes for discussion. A goal is to have
representative talks from people in different instructional categories.
If you are interested in presenting a talk, please contact Carl
Heiles via email at cheiles@astro.berkeley.edu.

ASP
and JPL Sponsor a Web Scavenger Hunt

The
Astronomical Society of the Pacific and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
will be sponsoring a web scavenger hunt beginning in September.
The questions for the hunt deal with astronomy and space science
and will be located along with full contest rules beginning on 1
September at the ASP and JPL websites. 50 winners will be selected
in a random drawing from all completed entries on 2 November; they
will receive NASA posters, stickers, and other neat prizes. In addition,
the first 100 completed entries will receive a certificate of participation,
which is open to anyone - individual or group - with access to the
world wide web (both the Society and the Laboratory strongly encourage
school classes at all levels to join in). To participate, just follow
these guidelines:

On
16 November, the names of the 50 winners will be available at both
institutions' websites. ASP and JPL see this scavenger hunt as the
first of many joint activities to involve people in and excite them
about astronomy and NASA's missions of exploration in outer space.
Good luck, (cyber)space scavengers!
You can still go and see the winners!

LEO
P. CONNOLLY
is a professor in the Department of Physics at California State
University in San Bernardino. He attended the Project ASTRO workshop
in June 1996 and started a partnership last September. His email
address is lconnoll@wiley.csusb.edu.